Chapter 9

I was completely stunned. I saw Mae turn into a tiger. She took one swipe at the thing, and it was enough strength to throw it of her. It landed about five feet away from her. Mae got to her feet.

"Bucky…quick…get behind me," she said, and I could hear her accent loud and clear. I got behind her as fast as I could.

"What do you want, Shape-Shifter?" I heard her say.

I gasped. So this was the him?

"You know what I want, Maylonica!" he said.

His voice was so creepy…wait…what did he mean Maylonica?

Mae gritted her teeth and growled. She ran towards him. In a flash there were fists flying. It was like one of those Hollywood movie fighting scenes.

I knew I had to help her. I told the stars to help me out. That's when I heard them whisper back in my head.

"No problem….but first…you need to look a little more official," they said.

At first I didn't have a clue about what that meant. Then I started to feel a little strange. When I looked down, I saw that my outfit had changed. So had my hair…it pointed to the right. I looked like some really cool warrior. Under my left eye, I saw something glowing. It was just like the diamond on Mae's forehead, only this was a yellow star.

"That's much better," I heard the stars whisper. "Now what do you want us to do?" they asked.

This time, I knew exactly what to do.

In seconds, half of the stars swooped down over the area where Mae and the "S.S." (Shape-Shifter) were fighting. Most of them formed a big cage. Inside it, some stars had changed colors to look like a real phoenix. It looked as though the phoenix were trapped inside. The S.S. saw it, and fell for the trick. He ran over and tried to grab the phoenix, only to see all the stars fly out of his arms. That group formed the door to the cage, and locked him in.

All this time, my arms were making all these movements, just like Mae had. I threw out my arm, and that sent the cage high, far, and soon out of sight.

Mae got to her feet. She was back to being human again. She ran back up the hill and stopped in front of me. "Um…thanks for…helping me," she hesitated. I think she was a bit embarrassed; she probably thought she could have stopped him herself.

Mae looked pretty surprised, and I didn't blame her; I was even a little surprised myself at what I just did!

"It wasn't much," I said, but I wasn't really looking at her.

"Hey, who are you talking to?" she asked, waving her hand in my face, "I'm over here," she said.

I laughed, and I turned my head to face her.

There was a long pause, and neither of us said anything. We just stared at each other. Thank goodness it was starting to get dark, because I felt my face get hot. I looked down at my feet to hide my embarrassment.

The stars formed a DVD player and it started playing "I See the Light" again…this time with the original soundtrack and voices. I knew exactly what they were up to. They had minds of their own. I looked up with an un-amused expression at the star radio.

Mae giggled, and that's when something happened that I won't forget anytime soon. I felt Mae's hand on my chin, and she gently lifted my head up. She stared at me for a few seconds, smiling, and then she kissed me, right on the lips.

I was completely stunned. After a few seconds, I got my act together and put my arms around her. It seemed to last forever, but she finally backed up.

I was totally convinced for a second that I was dreaming! I couldn't see very well, but I think Mae was blushing.

"Hey, uh, could you excuse me for a minute while I go faint?" I joked.

She laughed.

"Please don't tell anyone about this. If either Justin or worse, my parents, find out about it, it will be the end of me," she pleaded, her smile fading.

I was a little confused.

"Wait…why is Justin so important?" I asked her.

"Because, I think we both know that he likes me, and he's already mad at you because…" Mae stopped.

"Because…?"

"Well, do you remember when we were almost late to school?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"And how Justin started flirting with me when we were at our lockers?"

"Yeah, that didn't annoy me at all!" I said sarcastically.

"Well, I knew he was trying to act cool in all, so I tried to lay down the line with him. I told him that he didn't impress me, and that it's not all about him. But what I said next is what caused the problem. I told him that he should be more like you."

That made me smile a bit, but when I saw how unhappy Mae looked, I wiped the smile off my face.

"And now Justin thinks you told me something bad about him, which I know isn't true, but he won't believe me. He said that it was "un-cool" to be taking your side. So please don't especially tell him. I don't want him to be any more mad at you…and probably me…than he already is!"

Mae started to cry. I could see a few tears running down her cheek. I felt terrible, and I gave her a hug.

"Don't worry, I won't tell him, or anyone. Besides, I wasn't planning to anyway." I pulled back.

She smiled.

I looked at my watch; it was nearly one in the morning! "Mae, we'd better head home," I said to her.

First we ran back to the tree house. None of the others were there. I watched Mae slowly walk back to her house. She stopped right at the back door. She waved at me, and then turned around. She grabbed the frame of one side of the door, and somehow flung herself high into the air, flipping as she rose.

As she was coming back down, she grabbed the frame of her bedroom window and swung herself inside, all in one move. "I hope she teaches me that sometime!" I said to myself.

Then I ran back to my house, slide through my window, into my bed, and lay there for a while. I can't believe it! I thought. Mae actually kissed me!

That day had gone from being the worst day that week to the best night of my life!